Ouch BR900 Repair

[T.C. Elliott]

So.... the enter button on my BR-900 CD (that I've owned for... nearly 8 years, I think?) stopped working all together. It'd been going for the last two years. But today... KAPUT! So I tore into it figuring that it is completely useless as is and if I screwed it up I'm no worse for it, right? Well, sorta.  I took it completely apart, got out the soldering iron and exchanged the actual buttons from the pan/eq (that I never use) and the enter spots. AND IT WORKS! Except... now I don't hear anything out of the line out ports and it won't connect to the computer. DOH!

I'm going back in, but maybe not till tomorrow.

Here is a couple of pictures in case anyone is interested at looking at a BR-900 upside down and without the bottom plate on it.

[64Guitars]

Thanks for the pictures, T.C.  I've put them in a Guide in case other BR-900 users need them in the future.

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=articles;cat=11

I hope you're using a low-wattage soldering iron (under 40 watts). High-wattage soldering irons or soldering guns are not suitable for electronics as they can fry nearby components or lift circuit traces from the board. Even with a low-power iron you should be careful not to get things any hotter than necessary to get a good solder connection. Sometimes it's a good idea to attach a temporary heat sink (an alligator clip will work) ahead of any points that might get damaged from too much heat.

I hope you're able to get everything working again.

[T.C. Elliott]

Well it IS a low wattage iron. Plus I am using the old point on it that is narrowed down to almost nothing. That allows me to heat up only the contact. I had to heat one side to loosen it then the other and gradually remove the button from the board. I doubt there is much, if any, risk of heating up the board. However, I've been wrong before.  It is kind of odd that the enter button works now but that the output doesn't. So maybe I fried it. Or maybe I didn't get all the connections firmly put back. We will see tomorrow.

I'll try to get more/better pictures of each stage of assembly.

[T.C. Elliott]

So, I opened her back up and two connections not only were loose, they weren't even connected. Nice, eh? Don't get in a hurry to close her up. I guess the end of surgery is as important as the beginning.

All my tests have come through as positive. So far I've checked recording, playback, connection to the computer, backing up to the computer, phantom power, the enter button several times (works great.)  Ummm, probably should check other stuff, but those at the minimum allow me to record and get WAV files to the computer. But I'm probably in the market for a new recorder or maybe interface for direct recording to the computer. We shall see.

[T.C. Elliott]

I only took two more pictures but here they are in case it helps. The first is just another look at the bottom plate being removed. The second is what the strip looks like that I failed to reconnect. It shows how slim the connector is it plugs in by slotting it in (gently) to the receptacle immediately under it.

[fenderbender]

Well done TC
your a braver man than I --
Gaawwwd be with the old days when you could sit down and sneak a peek under the bonnet of all these things
and (like yourself) get lucky 9 times out of ten.
but nowadays everything is made with throwaway in mind ..
You deserve a round of applause


Tommy

[64Guitars]

Glad you got it all working again and that it was nothing serious. And thanks for the extra pictures.

[bruno]

Glad you got it all working again and that it was nothing serious. And thanks for the extra pictures.

+1 - as a lad I always took things apart, I think I'd be a little more concerned these days, but as you say - nothing to loose.
B

[cuthbert]

I love a happy ending...well done, T.C. And thanks for chronicling it, which may help someone else in the future with a similar predicament.

[T.C. Elliott]

Thank you all. Yeah, it was a bit of a "do it or don't record" back against the wall, no choice feeling that got me into it. Looking back I should have recorded the whole process on my cheap little video recorder. It would have helped a lot. Although the unit isn't super complicated, it would be easy to miss a step like I did.

Last night I recorded a song for the Billy Mack Cover project which I'll post in February after he releases the compilation. Everything worked as usual.